Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it won U.S. marketing approval for a diagnostic test for the coronavirus that can deliver results to patients within minutes and be used in physicians offices and urgent care clinics, as well as hospitals.
Gavino Garay has more.
The current nasopharyngeal swab could leave you wondering if you have coronavirus for days as U.S. hospitals struggle to meet testing demands, with cases nationally now topping 100,000.
But that could soon change, with U.S. company Abbott Laboratories' new coronavirus test that can deliver a positive result in five minutes and a negative result in 13 minutes.
Gavin Cloherty, Head of Infectious Disease Research, Diagnostics at Abbott says the ID Now testing device is the size of a small kitchen appliance and is portable enough to even be used in a mobile unit.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) GAVIN CLOHERTY, HEAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH, DIAGNOSTICS AT ABBOTT, SAYING: "It generates an accurate test result in a matter of minutes, instead of hours or days, and that enables the healthcare provider to see a patient, diagnose a patient, and take the necessary intervention is a very short amount of time and prevent further transmissions to other people." Abbott on Friday said it won U.S. marketing approval under the Food and Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorization for the diagnostic test that can be used in physicians offices and urgent care clinics, as well as hospitals.
Abbott plans to begin distributing the test next week and will ramp up manufacturing to 50,000 tests per day.
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